Oven



Jan. 17, 1933.

J. E. ICRE OVEN Filed June 16. 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet l E em Tm N M5 m VT T mmm wu A B M E, J

Jan. 17, 1933. .1. B. lcRE 1,894,688

OVEN

Filed June 16, 195o e sheets-'sheet 2 F .2. 9 3f .85 30T] by 2 /NVENTOR JEAN @APT/ST5 /CeE` A TTURNE YS Jan. 17, 1933. J. E. ICRE 1,894,688

OVEN

Filed June 16, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 y /N VENTO/e JEAN APr/TE /cea 33 A Troie/V515 J. E. ICRE Jan. 17, 1933.

OVEN

Filed June 16. 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR f m w m7 6A WK A Dm N fw J Jam E?? 93 J, E. I CRE OVEN 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 16, 1930 A TTORNEKS' J. E. ICRE Jan, l?, 1933.

OVEN

Filed June 16. 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 u w w |IIIJITIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIHQJY wjxllllllllll llllII Ill xIIlII /N VENTO/e JEAN @APT/5 TE /CRE A TTORNE )5' Patented Jan. 17, 1933l PATENT OFFICE JEAN BAPTISTE ICRE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

OVEN

Application filed June 16,

My invention relates to ovens, and while designed primarily for use in baking ovens, is applicable to other cases in which articles or goods are to be subjected to heat for a relatively considerable length of time, as in metallurgy and ceramics. The object of my invention is to provide an improved oven of this character, having novel means for causing the articles or goods to travel within the oven, a novel heating arrangement, and other features of novelty which are disclosed i n the accompanying drawings and in the specilfication following hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings illustrating, as an example, a satisfactory and preferred embodiment of my invention. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved oven; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation; Fig. 5 shows an auxiliary furnace, and Fig. 6 a section of the same; Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view of one of the traveling carriers which convey the goods within the oven; Fig. 8 is a section on line 8-8 of Fig. Fig. 9 is a horizontal section on line 9 9 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a detail of the carrier; Fig. 11 is a vertical section on line 11-11 of Fig. 2; Fig. 12 is a horizontal section on line 12- 12 of Fig. 14; Fig. 13 is a top view of the oven; Fig. 14 is a rear elevation thereof; and Fig. 15 is a side .elevation of they oven.-

The masonry or brickwork constituting the body of the oven comprises a top wall 30,'a rear wall 31, a bottom 32, and side walls 33. The front of the oven is normally closed by four doors, viz. `two upper doors 34'hing'ed on the side walls at 35, and two lower doors 34 hinged at 35. These doors are held in their normal closed position by knuts 'and bolts 36 co-operating with bars or, strips 37 which also serve to cover the meeting edges of the doors and thus to produce tight joints. rEhe lower doors 34 have openings 34 adapted to be closed by vertically movable slides or auxiliary doors 38 arranged between the outer faces of said doors 34 and guide walls or plates 39. The slides 38 are connected by rods 40 with cross members or 1930. Serial No. 461,324.

heads 41 each connected by a cable 42 or the like with a counterweight 43, the cables passing over guide pulleys 44 journaled in brackets 45. The two slides 38 when fully lowered completely close the two openings 34". In certain cases, as referred to hereinafter, a platform P may be slid into the lower half of the opening 34, in which case the slides 38 are lowered only to contact with the said platform, as shown in Fig. 2. The counterbalancing of the slides enables the attendant to move them readily up or down, as desired. The doors 34, 34 are opened only on rare occasions, as for overhauling or general cleaning.

Within the chamber formed by the walls of the oven are located carriers for the articles to be treated, and parts of mechanism for giving said carriers an intermittent movement, first upwardly in a succession of stages, then transversely in one direction, then downwardly in a series of steps, and finally transversely in the opposite direction. The carriers may be of any suitable construction; for instance, they may consist of shallow troughs each comprising a horizontal bottom -wall 46 and upward flanges 46', 46 at the side and rear edges respectively of said bottom, there being no such flange at the front, which is open (see Fig. 2). The troughs might serve directly as supports for the articles to be treated in the oven, but in the example illustrated, such articles are intended to be placed on trays 47 which rest on said troughs 46, 46, 46 removably, said trays being provided with rollers 48 traveling on the bottom 46 adjacent to the side flanges 46. The latter may extend upwardly into recesses or housings 46a. 1With this particular construction, the trays are substantial- .ly of the same length and width as the carriers.

Flach carrier is provided, at the center 0f each of the side walls or flanges 46, with brackets 49 extending upwardly and provided with aligning rollers 50 which are adapted to rest, at times, in supports 51 forming extensions on the central portions of the links of two endless chains 52, each located adjacent to one of the side walls 33. The

pivots'of the chain links are indicated at 52. Each chain has an ascending run and a descending run, adapted to move between stationary guides The chains 52 pass over sprockets 54.

A pair of horizontal upper conveyers 55 are arranged adjacent to the upper ends of the ascending andthe descending runs of the chains 52, and is intended to transfer carriers, in the manner set forth hereinafter, from the upper end of' the ascending run to the upper end of the descending run. Each of said conveyers 55 has projections 55 adapted to engage the rollers 50 at cer- `tain times, for shifting the carriers 46 transversely; during such transverse movement, the. rollers 50, as soon as they pass out of openings 5l at the sides of thev supports 51, travel and rest on4 stationary horizontal upper supports 56 whichV are parallel to the runs of thaup er transferring conveyers 55; As shown in `ig. 7, I prefer to make eachof the supports 51 at its central portion with two superposed'concave portions or recesses foriuingseats for the rollers 50,so as to prevent an i accidental' slipping of ysaid rollers throng) the lateral openings 5l. The distance between these two seats is considerably greater thanthe diameter of a roller 50, while the width or rather height of the lateral openings 5l is just suflicient to permit the roller to ass therethrough.v Ifl we assume that Fig. shows a portion of' the descending chain run, it will be obvious that when this same chain portion during the further travel of the chain becomes part of the ascending chainrun, the roller will engage, andk be supported by, that concave seat which in Fig. 7 is above the roller, but which on the ascending chain run comes below the roller.

Similarly, at the lower portionv of the oven, a pair of horizontal lower conveyers 57 are provided'for transferring' the carriers 46 from the lower potion of the descending runs of the chains 52, to the lower portion of the ascending runs ofsaid chains. For this purpose, each of the conveyers 57 has projections 57 adapted to engage lugs 49 on the brackets 49, to move the carriers 46 transversely, during which transverse (horizontal). movement the carriersI are supported by stationar f' tracks 58 engaged by rollers 465 carnale on said carriers, the side walls '3.having horizontal grooves 33 for the passa of the rollers 50.

he upper conveyors pass over sprock-y ets 55", and the lower conveyers 57' over sprocket-s 57". Sprockets 59, 60 are held to rotate in unison with one of the sprockets of an upper and a lower conveyor respectively,- and these sprockets are connected by a chain 60', while the two upper conveyers are connected by having two corresponding S Rockets 55" mounted rigidly on the same s t, a similar arangement being employed with respect to the two lower conveyors 57. Thus the four conveyers 55, 57 will be caused to move in unison. Any other suitable mechanism maybe employed for accomplishing this result. The two chains 52 are suitably connected so that they will move in unisomfor instance by mounting corresponding sprockets 54 Yof the two chains on the same shaft.

The chains 52 may be driven by a motor 61 (for instanceanielectric motor) with the aid of a worm drive 62. As it is intended to give astep-by-step movement to the carriers 46, Iprefer an arrangement which will at each step give the chains 52 automatically a movement of just, the right. extent. For this purposel may employ a pedal 63 controlling, by intermediate connections, 63', a clutch4 64 of the well-known one-revolution type; that is to say,v the motor 61 would run continu ously, butwould'normally be disconnected from the worm drive 62 operating the chains 52. Upon pressing the pedal 63,.the clutch 64 wouldbe thrownin, and the drive 62 actuated to impartmotion tothe-chains52. After one, revolution, (this being sutlicient to give the chains 52 the feed movement for one step) the Clutch 64 would be thrown out automatically, as is well-known in clutches ot' this type, and the movement of the chains 52 would stop. Similarly, an electric or other) motor 65. might, through ar one-revolution clutch 66, actuateaworm drive 67 operating theconnected; upper conveyors 55 and lower conveyersA 57 and at each operation drive them just to the proper extent for transferring a carrier 46l (at the top) rearwardly from the upper en d of the ascending runs of the chains 52 to the` upper end of their descending runs, while at the same time another carrier would; be conveyed (at the bottom) forwardly fromr the lower end of the descending;y runs of the chains 52.

It is desirable `that the operation of the conveyers 55, 57. should begin automatically as soon as` the movement of the chains 52 has. shopped. For this purpose, I may, for instancmprovide onthe one-revolution clutch 64 a cam 68y arranged to throw in the onerevolution clutch, 66 at the end of the one revolutionl of. clutch 64. Thus depression of the pedal 63' would first start the chains 52, and after'said chains have moved to the desired extent (one step), they would stop, and simultaneously with such stoppage the conveyers 55, 57. would be started automatically, to stop after a movement ot predetermined extent. The chains and conveyers would then remain stationary until the operator againdepresses the pedal 63. A spring (not shown)y or. other expedient would return the pedal. to its normal (raised) position.

In. some cases, I may wish to have the alternate movements of the chains 52 and conveyers 55, 5,7, repeated. automatically until the operator stops such repetition. For this purpose,the lever 69 which is actuated by the cam 68 to shift the clutch 66, may be connected temporarily, as by a link 70, with the pedal 63 or its connection 63. These parts would be so constructed and arranged that when the lever 69 moves to throw out the clutch 66, it would at the same time automatically move the pedal connections 63 in such a direction as to throw in the clutch 64 and thus again start the chains 52. As long as the link 70 remains connected as described, the intermittent movement of the chains 52 and conveyers 55, 57 would continue in regular alternation. If however, the link 70 is disconnected, depression of the pedal will cause just one movement of the chains 52, followed by one movement of the conveyers 55, 57, whereupon these parts will stop.

` For heating the oven, I have provided a furnace 71 having a door 72 at the front of the oven, with a grate 73 and a combustion chamber 74. From the latter a wide central horizontal flue 75 and diverging horizontal iiues 75 extend to the rear wall of the oven. From th-e combustion chamber 74 diverging horizontal iiues 76 extend to bottom fines 77 located in the side walls 33 and extending from front to rear. At their rear ends, the flues 77 communicate with uptakes 78, from the upper ends of wh'ch lues 7 9 extend forik wardly to the lower ends of uptakes 80, the upper ends of which communicate with hori zontal lues 81 extending rearwardly. At the rear ends, the fines '81 communicate with uptakes 82, from the upper ends of which horizontal lues 83 extend forwardly, to communicate with short uptakes 84, the upper ends of which communicate with transverse horizontal iiues 85 located on the top wall 30 and communicating withthe stack 86. At the rear ends of the flues 75, uptakes 8-7 lead therefrom in the rear wall 31 tohorizontal iues 88 extending forwardly inthe top walls 30. From the front ends of said flues 88, horizontal flues 89 extend obliquely rear` ward,v to communicate with forwardly extending horizontal iiues 96 leading to the stack 86. From the interior of the oven, near the rear thereof, an uptake 91 leads to a horizontal liuc 92 located in the top wall 3() and extending to the stack 86. At the rear of thev central horizontal flue 75, two uptakes 93 fcrming dead spaces extend upwardly in the rear wall 31 to about half its height. Suitable doors 94 are located at the ends of flues, for normally closing openings thro-ugh which access may be had to such iiues for cleaning them. At 95 I have indicated adjustable dampers for regulating the draft and the distribution of the heating gases among the several flues.

In the side walls 33, I have provided two small auxiliary furnaces 96, ywith ducts or fiues 97 leading therefrom to the interior able insulating body. Current is supplied f to the heaters in any suitabley manner, for instance by conducting rollers 99 moving with the carriers 46 and connected with the ends of the resistance Wire, said rollers being pressed by springs 100 against conducting tracks 101 to which electriccurrent isY supplied from'any suitable source.

The operation isas follows when the oven is used for baking, which is the purpose for which my invention has been designed primarily: rlhe trays 47 are filled with bricks B or other heat retainingmaterial, and the dough in the form of loaves or other articles to be baked is preferably placed in pans A, outside the oven, and these loaded pansV are then placed on top of the bricks B as shown in Fig. 11. The pans are placed on thetrays while the latter are still outside the oven and the slides 38 are raised so that the trays with the loaded pansinay be introduced into the oven'and brought to rest on the carrier 46 which is in the lowermost position at the ascending portion of the chains 52. In carrying out this loading operation, it may be convenient to rollv the trays over a. platform P which is placed temporarily in the lower portion of the openings 34 as shown in Fig. 2. The main furnace 71 and if desired the auxiliary furnaces 96 are then started to heat the walls of the oven to the proper temperature. The interior of the oven will, of course, at thattime'not be heated to the same temperature as the oven walls themselves. At a suitable time, the

operator will connect the conducting tracks 101 with the source of electric current, as by throwing a suitable switch (not shown) so that the heat developed by the electric heaters 98 at the bottom of the carriers 46 willbe added to that produced by the combustion gases, and thus when the electric heaters are operative, the temperature within the oven kwill be higher than the temperature of its walls, `so that the baking of the bread cr the like will take place properly.

After the carrier 46 which is at the bottom, near the openings 34, has been loaded as described, and the slides 38 lowered, by the attendant, and while the link 70 is disconnected, the pedal 63 is depressed so that by the mechanism described above, theone-revolution clutch 64 is'thrown in and the chains 52 given a longitudinal movement -of proper extent to lift said loaded carrier 46 one step, that is to say to bring such carrier 'to the positonl shown inFig. 2i for the carrier immediately abovethe lowermost. While one vertical rlm of the chains is ascending, their other vertical. run. is descending thereby bringing a carrier inthe descending column to the bottom position. At the end of this upward. motion of the loaded carrier, the horizontal. conveyers 55. and 57 will. automatically receive a longitudinal motion by which, asregrds the upper conveyor 55, the uppermost carrier 46 of the ascending column will be shiftedy rearwardly to bring it into registry with the descending column, while the lowermost carrier 46 of the descending column will be shifted forwardly to bring it adjacent to the openings 34". The conveyors 55 and 57 then stop and the attendant may openy the slides 38 to remove the pan A if the bread is fully baked, and. to insert in place of such-removed pan, another containing loaves tolbe baked. This-operati on is continued step by step as required. After all the carriers i6v have been loaded, it may be desired to have them make more than one complete circuit of the oven interior, and in order that this may be accomplished without requiring the attendant to press again on the pedal 63, the link may be connected as described above, and after this has been done, the vertical movement ofthe ascending and descending runs of the chains 52, alternating with the horizontaly movement of the conveyers 55 and 57, will goon as long as the link 70l remains thus connected. The operation will then be stopped' by the operator as soon as he jud that the proper time has arrived, by isconnecting the link 70 and then bringing the pans A successively to the proper position for discharge through the openings 34", in the manner described above, at a time when both the chains 52 and the conveyers 55y and 57 are stationary. When this position for discharge is reached, there will be no carrier`46 at the bottom of the right hsmd or descending column (Fig. 2) and no carrier 46 at the top of the left hand or ascending column.

In order that the temperatures within the walls ofthe oven and in the interior of the oven may be ascertained at any time, thermometerssuch asindicated'at T and T may be provided.

1 may also, without employing the main furnace 7l and the Hue system connected therewith, simply heat the interior of the ovenl by the auxiliary furnaces 96, and if desired also give additional heat to the carners 46 by means of the electric heaters 98.

An oven having the features disclosed hereinmay be used for baking, or for many other operationsl where articles are to be subjected to heat for a certain length of time; among such operations I may mention annealing of metal articles, the heating of ceramic products, the drying of various articles, etc.

1Macc In order to prevent overheating of the door 72, I may provide lateral fines 102 which will carry 0H the excess heat, say to the horizontal lues 77.

The new oven is very compact, requires much less floor space than ovens of the usual type, and is very economical in fuel consumption. The output of the oven in the unit of time is greater than in prior constructions. All parts are readily accessible upon opening the doors, no takingdown or apart being required.

Various modications may be made without departing from the nature of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

1. An oven provided in its interior with an endless chain having ascending and descending runs, carriers connected with said chain pivotally and slidable laterally, and provided With rollers, an upper. conveyor for transferring carriers from the ascending chain run to the descendingone, a.y lower con- Veyer for transferring carriers from the descending chain run to the ascending one, a track engaged by said rollers during the transfer of a carrier from one of said chain runs to the other and arranged adjacent to the conveyer effecting such transfer, and coordinated mleans for opcratin g said chain and conveyors in properly timed sequence.

2. An oven provided in its interior with an endless chain having ascending and descending runs, carriers pivotally connected with said chain and slidable relatively thereto to detach them from the chain, or connect them therewith, an upper conveyer for transferring carriers from the ascending chain run to the descending one, a lower conveyer for transferring carriers from the descending chain run to the ascending one, an operative connection for causing the two transferring conveyerf; to move in unison, and means for operating said chain and conveyers.

3. An oven according to claim 2, in which mechanism is provided to move the chain a predetermined distance, and then, while the chain is stationary, automatically give said conveyers their transferring movement.

4. An oven according to claim 2, in which mechanism is provided to move the chain 1ntermittently, and. during the intervals when the chain is stationary, automatically give said conveyers their transferring movement, said mechanism including a member arranged to be thrown ont of operative position, to substitute selectively, for the intormittent chain movements alternating with conveyor movements, a single chain (movement followed by a single movement of the conveyers.

5. An oven provided in its interior with an endless chain having pivotally-connected links, supports located on said links between adjacent chain pivots, and carriers hung on said supports pivotally so that such carriers may always remain in a substantially horizontal position, and also having a sliding connection with said supports so that the carriers may he given a lateral movement to connect them with the chain or disconnect them therefrom.

6. An oven provided With an internal endless chain having pivotally-connected links, supports located on said links and provided with lateral openingsI and with concave seats adjacent to such openings, and carriers provided With pivots adapted to engage said supports at such concave seats to hang the carriers in a substantially horizontal position, said carrier pivots having a sliding connection with said supports to pass in and out through said lateral openings, so that the carriers may be given a lateral movement to connect them with the chain or disconnect them therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JEAN BAPTISTE ICR-E. 

